The invention relates to a hand-held electronic device with a hidden keyboard and particularly a small information device (such as PDA, mobile phone) coupled with a keyboard for users to selectively enter data therewith.
Rapid innovations and developments in communication technology now enable people using hand-held personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones or other devices to access and enjoy a wide variety of added value services and multimedia information and contents from the Internet anytime anywhere.
Although the related technologies are well developed at present, there are still bottlenecks to be overcome in terms of accessing networks in mobile fashion. For instance, difficulty of data entry on small size information products (such as PDAs, mobile phones, etc.) is one of the problems not yet fully resolved. In order to facilitate carrying and offer desired portability, the small information products often are being made about the size of a human palm. They usually have a display screen for displaying messages, especially the PDAs. For a general PDA, the display screen almost occupies the entire casing with only a small space left for a few function keys. Data entry usually is done manually through a T P (Touch Panel). Mobile phones generally do not have display screens as large as the PDAs, and have numeric keys and some function keys on the casings. Nevertheless, when there is a need to enter a large amount of data, T P or numeric key data entry simply is too slow and cumbersome to meet users"" requirements.
To address the inconvenience of data entry on small size information products, there are designs equipped with attached keyboards now available on the market. FIG. 1 shows one of the examples that has a keyboard and a display screen facing each other. The keyboard and display screen are respectively mounted to two independent bodies and are engaged together through a hinge. When in use, open the product from the middle to extend and lay the display screen and keyboard. Then the keyboard may be used for data entry. When not in use, the bodies may be folded and the display screen will be encased in the bodies and not visible. As the product should be opened when in use, it is not user-friendly. The keyboard also is exposed to exterior when not in use and occupies an extra space.
In view of aforesaid disadvantages, the primary object of the invention is to provide a handheld electronic device with a keyboard for data entry that has a novel keyboard structure to allow the display screen visible from outside all the times and conceal the keyboard when not in use to save space.
To achieve the foregoing objects, the electronic device according to the invention is coupled with a retractable keyboard which may be hidden inside the device body when not in use and may be pulled out when in use to allow users entering data.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.